State Senator Gayle Slossberg

Gayle Slossberg is a dynamic leader who exemplifies a lifetime of community involvement. First elected in 2004, Senator Slossberg was reelected in 2008 for her third term as the state Senator representing Milford, Orange, and the southern half of West Haven.

As chair of the Government Administration & Elections Committee, Senator Slossberg has been a strong voice for transparent and ethical state and municipal government and was the driving force behind comprehensive contracting reform in the State of Connecticut.

In 2008, she supported the public’s right to know and defeated a measure that would have limited information available through the Freedom of Information Act. She also advocated for stronger protections for state agency whistleblowers and for a comprehensive package of ethics reforms that included the revocation of pensions from corrupt public officials and employees, mandatory ethics training for all elected officials and creation of the misdemeanor crime of failure to report a bribe.

Additionally, Senator Slossberg fought for the empowerment of voters in the State of Connecticut, leading the Senate in approving a resolution that may give 17-year olds voting rights and opposing legislation that would disenfranchise thousands of seniors, minorities and disabled voters by requiring photo identification at all polling places.

Committed to her district, Senator Slossberg successfully negotiated a land conveyance that saved the City of Milford $1.4 million and secured 2.4 acres of open space on Route 1. She secured $55 million for upgrades to the Housatonic and Beaverbrook water treatment plant and $24.5 million for the new train station in West Haven, and has successfully advocated for the new station in Orange. She also secured funding for West Haven’s West Shore Fire District for necessary capital repairs to the district’s two fire stations.

For her dedicated service, Senator Slossberg has been honored by numerous groups, including the Connecticut Nurses Association, the Connecticut State Medical Society, the Connecticut Chiropractic Association, the Connecticut Community Providers Association and the Health Education Lead Poisoning coalition. In 2008, the Central Coast Connecticut YMCA honored Senator Slossberg with its Public Service Award for her commitment to her constituents and her advocacy on behalf of pro-charity legislation and not-for-profit funding. She was also the recipient of the 2007 Legislative Award from the Connecticut Association of Nonprofits for her work on the state contracting legislation and the Mayor’s Committee for People with Disabilities (Milford) Humanitarian Award for her devotion to helping others and improving lives through awareness and compassion.

During the 2007 legislative session, Senator Slossberg worked tirelessly to create comprehensive state contracting reform. This important and landmark legislation, which passed overwhelmingly during the September Special Session and was signed into law by the Governor, creates standards to prevent further problems with private contracts that can cost taxpayers millions of dollars, such as those concerning Interstate 84 and the Connecticut Department of Information Technology. At the same time, this legislation protects and preserves the invaluable relationship between the state and our nonprofits, which deliver services to some of our neediest residents.

Senator Slossberg championed legislation that will help prevent and treat childhood lead poisoning, one of the leading causes of childhood developmental problems. In 2007, she worked to secure state bond funds supporting a nonprofit, early intervention and prevention program to reduce lead hazards for Medicaid-enrolled and other children under six years old, and she secured $1 million in the state’s biennial budget to implement a mandatory lead screening program for children up to age three.

Additionally, Senator Slossberg was the driving force behind legislation in 2007 to create an assistance program for medical professionals that will provide education, prevention, intervention, referral assistance, and support services to any health care professional with a chemical dependency, including drugs, alcohol, and narcotics addiction; emotional or behavioral disorder; or physical or mental illness.

During her first term in office, Senator Slossberg worked to create a climate that will bring more jobs to Connecticut, improve access to healthcare, support our veterans, rebuild the transportation infrastructure, and provide more relief for municipalities than ever before.

As the Senate Chair of the Veterans Affairs Committee, Senator Slossberg championed the most comprehensive veterans’ benefits package since WWII. This package included a Military Family Relief Fund, which, during a time of hardship, provides financial assistance to immediate family members of people serving in both the U.S. Armed Forces and the Connecticut National Guard. Veterans’ disability payments are now excluded when determining income for purposes of income-based property tax exemptions, making the exemptions available to a greater number of veterans.

Senator Slossberg also created a Depleted Uranium Task Force, the first of its kind in the country, to study the effects that toxic substances had on soldiers who fought in the Middle East. The Task Force called for the creation of a health registry to assist veterans in seeking treatment for health problems related to exposure. In 2007, she capitalized on the Task Force’s efforts and passed legislation empowering the Connecticut Department of Veterans’ Affairs to establish and maintain a registry of data related to soldiers’ illnesses and potential correlations to environmental hazards they were exposed to during service. The registry will be up and running by 2009. Since beginning her efforts around this issue in 2005, nineteen other states have followed Senator Slossberg’s lead and proposed similar legislation.

Senator Slossberg developed a tax incentive program to increase job growth and attract new business to the state, a form of which was adopted by the Governor and passed in the 2006. In 2007, she expanded her job creation tax credit program, making Connecticut businesses that create 10 new full-time jobs within the state eligible to receive a tax credit of up to 60 percent of the state income tax withheld from the new employees’ wages.

Senator Slossberg served as Democratic minority leader for the Milford Board of Aldermen from 2001 until her election to the state Senate in 2004. She is a member of the Endowment Committee for “Bridges, A Community Support System, Inc.,” which provides a wide variety of community services. She served on the Board of Directors of the Milford Visiting Nurses Association, is a past president of the Mathewson Elementary School PTA, and was a mentor to a teenage mother through “Bright Beginnings,” a Yale-New Haven Hospital program that pairs experienced mothers with teenage mothers to be.

Senator Slossberg received her Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University in 1987 and her law degree from New York University Law School in 1990. She practiced law with the firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, though she is currently retired from the practice of law.

Senator Slossberg grew up in Massachusetts and spent many years working and managing a family business that was started by her grandfather. She lives in Milford with her husband of 21 years, David, and their three children: Jeremy, 16; Alex, 14; and Rebecca, 11.

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